Student blogging...by: Jeanell

I came across this video that gives many great reasons to let students blog. The video was created by a teacher in New Zealand who teaches 2nd and 3rd graders and has only been blogging for 2 years.

"I now teach a class of students that are highly motivated and enthusiastic when it comes to I.T., they understand more about the world around them and they feel like their ideas, thought, opinions and learning are truly valued by others (I could go on and on here...)."

What a great feeling that must be, to know that you have contributed to those students future success? Don't get me wrong, I feel like that when I see a student's light bulb come on and they understand the math problem that we are working on or they finally are able to sound out a word and the story now makes more sense. BUT.......When those kids grow up are they going to thinking of those small milestones as link that to them as what is driving them to be a successful person? OR Are they going to think about the person that gave them passion for something that earns them a career and money? Although a few may find a passion with Math or Reading, they are life skills, whereas technology is a skill that can open doors into everything.

Rachel's school also has a Wiki. Check it out! I am so impressed. I immediately noticed the "Our Blogging Rules" section. Here the students have created their own list of rules for blogging and posted them for everyone. Each class has their own list and these are Rachel's classes rules for blogging.

We will:

• Only use our FIRST name when writing
• Only use SENSIBLE and KIND words
• Not write any of our DETAILS - this includes phone number, address and personal email address
• Be careful when putting PHOTOS on (we have permission slips signed by parents)
• Ask PERMISSION when putting on other people's photos - tell them what you are going to do with the photos
• Only display nice photos of other people (we don't want people to be embarrassed)
• Try our hardest to get our SPELLING right
• Be RESPONSIBLE when using and writing on our blog.

Right above this list of rules the students stated, "Rachel had always had rules for us and we have talked about it lots, but today we took ownership and made our OWN!" We all know that students respect rules more when they had a part in making the rules.

BTW, Guess who one of Rachel's "My blogging workshop links" is: Kathy Cassidy's classroom blog. She also links to a weblog video that she says that she uses in her workshops. I clicked on it and who did I find is the main speaker, Will Richardson. Will Richardson's blog has video links.

It truly is amazing to see how blogs can inter-connect people around the world. Again I can't wait to get my kids connected and start them into this network of successful people that are sharing their knowledge with one another.

I am pretty sure that my kids interesest in writing and reading will increase after I introduce them to blogs. After reading, Lynelle's blog called Why Blog? I see how others are struggling with using such an important tool in their classrooms. She also touches on the how to grade these blogs. I really like the way that Rachel Boyd allowed the kids to come how with their own rules. Maybe we could do the same thing in setting up a rubric that the students felt were fair. I can really see where this one tool can really open the lines of communication between students and teachers. Yeah, Blogs!!

Issue: Student blogging

J